Power of the seed

Susan M Parker, author of Power of the Seed: Your Guide to Oils for Health and Beauty published in 2015, is one of the first books to focus exclusively on the lipid or carrier oils rather than as dilutents for aromatherapy or their use in the massage and beauty industry.

In this episode, Susan talks about her continuing fascination with plant lipids, using her herbal background to link botanical families as she educates others on the types of oils they produce.

Inspired by an herbal apprenticeship in the early1990’s, Susan established SOLUM&HERBE an herbal apothecary in 1996 focusing on skincare and topical treatments. Making herbal extracts, including oil infusions from her gardens, awakened a desire to know more about the infusing oils.

Unable to find a comprehensive guide to understand these carrier oils better, she began to learn about them. 

With an art background but little chemistry, Susan worked with a chemist friend to understand the basic chemistry of lipid oils. To help ground the learning process, she began writing up her notes and self-published a small booklet on the subject in 2001. 

Drawing on her Art degrees from the 1970s, she cut and pasted the booklet together and made 100 copies available to the local herbal community in Northern California. In 2015 Power of the Seed, much expanded and further researched, was published by Process Media, Port Townsend, WA.

A student of natural health, gardener, herbalist, flower essence devotee, mother, and now grandmother, Susan studied herbalism with Pam Montgomery and David Hoffman in the 1990s. After 22 years of creating and producing a range of products, SOLUM&HERBE ended production in 2018. Susan continues to research and teach about lipid oils online.

Useful Links

https://susanmparker.com/ 

Power of the Seed: Your Guide to Oils for Health & Beauty 

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To learn more about plants & your health from Colleen at LabAroma check out this informative PDF